Bernard E. Rollin (1943–2021)

This book is part of the “Popular Culture and Philosophy” series that includes such titles as Seinfeld and Philosophy and The Sopranos and Philosophy, among others. The general aim of these titles is to “popularize” philosophy as when a stuffy professor gets hip and assigns one of these books in her Philosophy 101 course at the local college or when one of these books is read by a generally literate audience curious about the value of philosophy in making sense of our world.

Harley-Davidson and Philosophy is an anthology made up of fourteen articles by twelve different authors, most are professors of one thing or another, some are philosophers. All seem to be motorcycle enthusiasts. In the book’s forward, R.K. Stratman states, “I am not a philosopher…. After reading several of the essays I felt intimidated” (ix). Philosophical geeks would be pleased that a number of pillars of the field are mentioned, form Pythagoras to Foucault. For the snooty among us there is also a fair amount of jargon-dropping as one will encounter such terms misogyny and crypto-paternalism. But the book does have some popular appeal.… (mer)